Essentially, there are two factors that go into making a supermoon: Essentially, there are two factors that go into making a supermoon: the moon's perigee, and when the moon is full. A perigee is a fancy name for the point where the moon's orbit is the closest to Earth, which is roughly 226,000 miles from Earth. A supermoon will also appear brighter and larger than a normal full moon, hence making it "super." There will be two supermoons this year on March 9 and April 7.
While it technically isn't a supermoon, the second full moon of Winter — called a Snow Moon — will occur the weekend of Feb. 7. It's called a Snow Moon because it occurs in February, a month with typically heavy snow. The moon will rise at about 4:47 p.m. on Saturday and set at about 7:33 a.m. on Sunday, reaching its full phase at 2:33 a.m. The reason this isn't a supermoon is because supermoons occur simultaneously with perigee, which is when the moon's orbit is closest to Earth, and this Snow Moon is taking place only about a day and a half after perigee. Still, it'll be really beautiful to see!